Standing Strong
by noticemepl0x
Summary: Tsuna gives absolutely zero fucks, she has single-handedly brought down many a male ego. Being confident in her own skin and working to improve herself makes for very prime Boss material. She knows she's not perfect and that's okay. But what's not okay is Reborn perving on her. T-M rating
1. BR (Before Reborn)

Her alarm blared an obnoxious siren and her bleary eyes slowly opened.

Tsunami sluggishly sat up and snoozed the alarm; her hands moving to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She sat staring at a wall for a few moments before moving to get ready for school.

As she made her way down the stairs, her lovely mother was preparing a delicious breakfast. Tsunami joined her, helping prepare breakfast and her own lunch for the day.

"Good morning Tsu-chan! Did you sleep well?" Nana beamed at her daughter.

"I slept just fine, and you?" Nana gave no indication that she heard her daughter's reply, far too occupied with humming to herself whilst stirring around the miso soup.

Tsuna sighed, it always hurt her to see her mother like this. It seemed to get worse each and every time her absent father would come home. Her Mama was always so patient to wait for when Iemitsu would find it convenient to visit again. Eating with her Mama is always a silent affair, nothing but the repetitive ticking of the clock to focus on.

"I'm off to school!" She yelled while pulling her shoes on, "Be safe!"

* * *

As she neared the school, she couldn't help but overhear something that churned something in her gut.

"Hey Kyoko, wanna be my girlfriend?"

"Umm…"

"Great! See you after school then." A grinning Mochida slung an arm over a frowning Kyoko. The lack of the idol's shrewd best friend made the girl an easy target for Mochida's forceful advances.

"Mochida-san, she did not reply and you did not give her a chance to reply. What makes you so sure that she is willing to date you?" Tsuna interrogated with cold eyes, bodily standing between them. Students stopped and stared

"None of your business, Sawada! What's your problem? Of course Kyoko would want to be my girlfriend, who wouldn't want to be?" boasted the boy while tugging a timid Kyoko closer to his side.

"My problem is that you are trying to force a relationship and a girl who is clearly uncomfortable with you. And if you can't see that then you must be blind, stupid or both." Tsuna tugged the girl to her side, "Come on Kyoko, you shouldn't have to deal with people like him."

Mochida roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her back, leering at her. "Well since you're so confident, why don't you take her place then?"

"I'm not interested in potentially getting raped." Mochida froze with his jaw hanging open, as do the rest of the onlookers.

"You'll pay for this! I challenge you to a duel for our honour! The prize is Kyoko! Tomorrow after school in the gym!"

"No thanks." Mochida's eyes flipped in confusion.

"W-wha? What do you mean 'no thanks'? Are you too much of a little bitch to fight me?"

"I just find it ludicrous that you believe that you think that a human being is an object to be won." she took Kyoko's hand and left the scene leaving many in shock and awe.

"Interesting…" smirked a figure in the trees.

* * *

After the final school bell rung, she began packing her school bag to get ready for home when she was interrupted by Kyoko and Hana. Kyoko looked nervous, playing with the edges of her skirt and looking as if she wanted to say something. She must have worn out her friend's patience as Hana nudged her.

" Sawada-chan, I didn't get the chance to say this earlier… but thank you. I really appreciate what you did for me this morning."

"It was nothing, I did what I thought was right, that's all."

"We need more people to stand up to these monkeys at this school. We should have lunch together sometime." Hana offered.

"If you'd like. I must get home now."

"W-we can walk with you!" Tsuna shrugged.

The three girls then began their trek home. The sweet small talk was great. Stuff like: how their day went, how stressed they were for an upcoming test, or how good the book they were reading was. Tsuna found that she liked these girls, they had a perfect balance to her personality.

Where she was silent, Kyoko and Hana had endless streams of things to say. Where she was negative and pessimistic, Kyoko and Hana were optimistic and ambitious. What seemed like far too soon, they separated ways with smiles on their faces.

"I'm home!"

"Tsu-chan! Look what I got in the mail today! There's a flyer for a home tutor! 'I will train your child to become the leader of the next generation'! Doesn't that sound great?" A delicate eyebrow lifted itself in confusion.

"I guess, but what does that have to do with me?"

"Well…he's going to be tutoring you!"

"But Mama, you know my grades are just fine. And how much is this 'tutor' asking for?"

"Free of charge! All they ask for is food and board! Great, isn't it?"

"That sounds like a scam." Tsuna said blandly. The doorbell rang.

"That must be them!" Tsuna could do nothing but bury her head in her hands. She loved her mother to death, but sometimes… She was too innocent to realize anything.

"Chaos, ma'am. My name is Reborn and I am the home tutor." Came a deep baritone. Nana couldn't help but blush in the presence of such a tall, handsome man.

"Good evening!" Nana pulled her daughter to her side, "This is my Tsunami! She is a very smart girl, but I really want her to get out more and find some friends and really love life!"

"I can do that, don't you worry ma'am."

"Oh please just call me Mama!" she beamed, "Take Reborn to your room and get him acquainted with you!" Tsunami wordlessly agreed and led the much taller man to her bedroom.

As Reborn stepped inside her room, he observed the cleanliness and the warm orange tones of the walls. Her decor reflected her maturity. A neat desk with many notebooks in one pile and a multitude of books and dictionaries in different languages tucked away in shelves.

"You study languages?" Tsunami nodded.

"Just a few, like Chinese, English and Spanish. Would you like anything to eat or drink? Tea?" She offered. He refused and sat down, coaxing her to do the same.

"I am a Hitman, and I am here to train you to become the Tenth Head of the Mafia." He smirked, but frowned at the lack of response.

"Umm… okay? Can I get an explanation on why?" her eyes darted in confusion

"You and your father, are direct descendants of the first boss of Vongola, Giotto. After the three previous candidates died horrible deaths, you are the last surviving eligible for inheriting the title." her eyes narrowed at the mention of her father.

"If all this is true, then why can't the bastard inherit?" Reborn smirked at her choice of wording for the idiota.

"He is currently the Head of CEDEF, the outside advisor to the main organization. He, cannot become Decimo as the old laws state that no outside advisors may become Don at any moment."

"How convenient, I assume that he has been in Italy working and refusing to let any of his family know of this? Know of how much of a target he is painting on us?" Tsuna complained. Reborn's eyes narrowed.

"What has your father been telling you?"

"Well he says that he is a _construction worker_." she spat the words out with venom, "Taking pictures up North with the penguins with his _golden_ pickaxe. I am not stupid. Construction workers don't make enough for that. I know that no project would ever take two years straight to finish."

"I see…" Reborn's forehead crinkled in distaste for the man. He never liked the idiot, he knew he was stupid, but not this stupid. Leaving his family ignorant of his Underground ties is a very bad idea. In a position like his, there were many wanting to get any kind of leverage on him and with no competent security detail for them. In the past week he had been in the small town, the ' _security'_ that Iemitsu had were absolutely useless and negligent.

Reborn gave out a long sigh, "Are you okay? Tired?" Tsuna asked, concerned.

"Just thinking, I want to see your grades and get ready for training tomorrow." His smirk turned predatory and a shiver went down Tsuna's back.

' _What have I gotten myself into?'_


	2. Preying on the Young

Something in Tsuna screamed at her to **wake up.**

Her eyes snapped open to Reborn's dark obsidian eyes, sucking her in like a black hole. She was entranced, she couldn't look away. Reborn broke the intense eye contact to greet her with a grin.

"Good morning Dame-Tsuna~ time to get ready for school!" He practically sang, but Tsuna was not having it.

"Where did you hear that name." she growled.

"A little birdie told me."

"Don't call me that." her eyes began to grow dark.

"And why not? Dame-Tsuna?"

"It brings back bad memories, so please stop."

"Care to tell me why?"

"Iemitsu was never there for me so I started to fail to get attention from him. I was a clumsy kid and I didn't have a dad. That made me an easy target for bullies." Reborn wasn't expecting her to actually share. From the information gathered, the nickname died out after she began to stand up for herself in middle school.

Tsuna began to strip to get ready for school. Having little regard for the grown man as her audience.

"Confident are you? We barely know each other and you're already giving me show? Aren't you afraid that I'd take advantage of you?" his eyes raked over her figure. She rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't really matter to me, I am confident in my skin. Besides, I'm sure that you have had tons of women with better figures."

Despite her young age, she had a lovely figure that she would no doubt grow into. He had indeed had many beautiful women in his bed. Each vying for his attention. She may not have as curvy a body as them, but he found many parts of her to be much more attractive. Her slender, delicate neck made him want to wrap his hand around and _squeeze_. Her slim wrists made her look so _breakable._ Her small breasts made her look so _delicate_. Her hips were wider than her shoulders with a curve that _beckoned_. But his favorite part? Legs. So long and milky and plump and tantalizing. He wanted to map them with his hands and trace each and every dip in them with his fingers and _feel_. He snapped out of that trance _quick._

' _I will_ _ **not**_ _be a predator! She's 16! I'm almost twice her age!"_

He was here to raise her into a perfect Donna for the most prestigious Famiglia in the Underworld. He didn't have time to be preying on innoceent teenage girls. He didn't have time to be thinking about how her large, doe-like eyes would look like sparkling with tears. He didn't have time to be thinking about how cute she would be with a blush, or how she would look like with her hair pulled taut in his hands. He finally snapped out of _that_ tangent when Nana called them down for breakfast.

* * *

School was a mind-numbing affair. People's voices fluttering through her ears, watching the day pass her by. By the time she had begun to pack for home, two boys approaching her.

"M-mochida-taichou c-challenges you for a match!" her classmates perked at this. Yesterday's incident had spread like wildfire.

"Please come with us to the gym!"

"Is he deaf? Did he not hear what I said to him yesterday? Does he not remember that I refused his 'challenge'?"

"Mochida does not take no for an answer. Just do it Sawada! Since you want to 'protect' Kyoko's honour!"

"Fine, whatever. I'll go." she huffed in defeat.

The walk to the gym was filled with excited whispers and bets on who would win.

"So you've come! I shall avenge Kyoko!" Mochida loudly declared.

"I don't understand why you are trying to play the hero when everybody knows that you tried to force Kyoko into a relationship."

"That's not true! Mochida would never do that! I'm his girlfriend!" A girl yelled out.

"Excuse me? Who do you think you are? _I'm_ his girlfriend! Kensuke! Tell this whore!"

Everybody waited with bated breaths for Mochida's response. Tsuna lifted a thin brow at how the situation turned out in her favour. Hana grabbed her and Kyoko to make their way out of the school.

"I can't believe Mochida, once again. All men are monkeys."

"I agree."

"Aww, don't be like that. Do you guys want to go for cake? I know a really yummy place a block over."

* * *

Reborn didn't know what to do, although the situation was handled. It didn't go the way he wanted it to. He sighed and emptied the Hyper Dying Will bullets out of the gun chamber and slipped them back into his pocket.

 _'Time to whip her into shape'_

As soon as Tsuna got home, she was practically assaulted by Reborn's expensive Oxford clad foot.

"Time to get to training, Tsunami." His grin became positively feral as he towered over her.

The next couple hours were filled with screaming gunshots, all while Nana hummed to herself while stirring her miso soup.


	3. Comfort

Someone walked in, presumably new. You could tell he was a punk. Looked like he was from the 90s. With his studded belts and bracelets, the chains hanging from his body and the sheer amount of piercings on one ear. He probably broke every single rule on the dress code. Hibari-san was probably having an aneurysm over him.

The girls in the class however, enjoyed this look immensely. Fawning and drooling over him. If she were any lesser female, then she would have too.

"This is our new student from Italy. Gokudera Hayato. Can you tell us something about yourself?"

' _Wow, does this have something to do with the Mafia? I wonder.'_

"..." "Kyaaaaaaaa!"

Hana turned to Kyoko and Tsuna, gagging.

"Well alright," Nezu-sensei sweatdropped "You may have the seat behind Yamamoto."

As Gokudera walked to her desk, he stared into her eyes with hate. He eventually kicked her desk over and whispered in her ear, "Meet me behind the science lab after school." he moved to take his seat. Hana shook her head.

"Men, am I right?" Hana complained, Tsuna mindlessly nodded. Kicking her desk over was completely unnecessary. She could feel him glaring holes into the back of her skull for the rest of that class.

And the next class.

And the next class.

The end of the day thankfully approached quick.

Reborn decided that it was prime time to speak with her, just as she began to walk to the designated area. He popped out from one of the walls.

"So, Tsun-" "Can you please not do that? I think I just had a mild stroke."

"A Boss always needs to be prepared for any and all situations."

"What do you want?"

"I heard that Smoking Bomb Hayato issued a challenge."

"I assume that you were spying on me in class? I could feel you in the trees."

' _Does she already have Hyper Intuition?'_

"Well a teacher always has to make sure that their student is safe."

"..."

Gokudera was already there, waiting for them, impatiently from the looks of it. A lit cigarette dangling from thin lips.

"You are not fit to become Decima! I deserve to become the Juudaime of the Vongola! Once I beat you, I will get to become Boss!" he began to pull out dynamites from the hidden caverns in his clothes.

"But I thought that you could only inherit by blood?"

"W-wha?" Gokudera stammered, "Stop trying to throw me off! Now die!" he began to haul many at her.

At the moment, Reborn shot her with precision. "Fight with your Dying Will."

Fire sprang from every pore in her body before settling into a single flame on her head. Her clothes disintegrating.

"I WILL FIGHT WITH MY DYING WILL!" She distinguished every stick with her fingertips.

"Tch. Double Bomb!" Tsuna unrelentingly extinguished the sticks. Gokudera began to panic.

"Triple Bomb!" in the midst of his agitation, his hand slipped and multiple sticks fell at his feet. "Shit."

"SAVE GOKUDERA HAYATO WITH MY DYING WILL." she dove for him and rolled to a relatively safe distance away. All of the remaining sticks detonated with a ground rumbling explosion.

"You are so stupid, I can't believe that you would choose to fight with dynamite right behind the science lab! Do you know how much _more_ damage you could have caused if just one of your dynamite broke the wall?!"

The smoke cleared with Tsunami straddling a wide-eyed Gokudera. At seeing her nakedness and their positioning, blood spurt into his face.

"Ju-judaime! I will serve you for the rest of my life! You are the only one truly fit to become Decima!"

"W-wha?"

"The defeated serves at the feet of the victor. Congratulations Tsunami, you have just gained your first subordinate!" Reborn praised while slipping his coat over her _small_ and _delicate_ shoulders.

"B-but I don't want a subordinate…" Gokudera's face fell, "I wouldn't mind a friend though." the smile on Gokudera's face lit a fire in her heart. She just _knew_ that she would do anything to keep that smile on his face.

"I will do anything you ask Juudaime!"

"Well, I'd like it if you could call me Tsuna."

"I-I wouldn't dare!"

"Please? You said anything."

"T-Tsuna-sama." he blushed

She sighed, she knew that was the best she was going to get.

"Let's get going before Hibari finds us and tries to murder us."

"Hai Juud- Tsuna-sama!"

* * *

They got to know each other a little more intimately on the walk back, Reborn nowhere to be found.

"So where do you live Gokudera?"

"In an apartment not too far from here. It's okay I guess, not the best." her eyes furrowed in worry.

"Then why don't you spend the night at mine?" You're new to this town, maybe I can help you adjust."

"No! I couldn't possibly! I can't impose on Tsuna-sama's family!"

"You wouldn't be imposing. If I'm going to be your Boss one day, then you are mine. And I take care of what's mine." he blushed at her declaration.

"T-Tsuna-sama…" he bowed, "I can never repay your kindness!"

"Let's just make a stop at your's to pick up stuff."

Reborn smirked, she was already shaping up into a fine Boss. He was impressed, a girl who had been raised in the civilian life finds out that she will become the Boss of hundreds of thousands of people, and she was already settling into her new role. Gokudera was the perfect choice for her Storm Guardian.

"Mama! My friend will be staying with us! Is that okay?"

"Of course it is! I'm so glad that you are finally making friends Tsu-chan! Why don't you show him his room."

"T-thank you for having me, ma'am!" he bowed to her in deep respect.

"Oh, such a polite young man! Just call me Mama!"

"Glad to see you two getting along, come one, I'll show you your room."

He couldn't help but feel so much appreciation for his Boss. She was so kind and caring, there would be _nothing_ that could ever separate him from her. She had taken in someone who tried to kill her and someone who was practically a stranger. He would go to the ends of the Earth for her _._ He was bodily, spiritually and completely hers. No more would he be out on the streets killing for Bosses who didn't give a single shit about him. No more being thrown away after his usefulness expired. No more would he run. He just _knew_ that she would never leave.

* * *

Tsuna's classmates scratched their heads in confusion. Just the day before, the new student had kicked her desk over, and all the sudden he was all over her. The girls in the class glared at her hatefully, while the guys sighed in relief. Yamamoto was already a girl hog, they didn't need anymore.

"Ne, Gokudera. Have you joined a club yet?"

"No, should I?"

"Yes! You can meet new people." she beamed.

"B-but then I can't protect you!"

"I don't need protecting. I want you to enjoy being a teenager, I know that you didn't get the chance to really have a childhood. So I just want you to relax and enjoy this time while you can." Gokudera's heart softened.

"I-I will T-Tsuna-sama!"

"Okay, any idea of what you want?"

"I-I was thinking of the astronomy club…" he admitted shyly.

"I think that'd be great for you. When's the next meeting?"

"After school today."

Yamamoto Takeshi looked on in envy. He wanted someone to care about him like Tsuna cared about Gokudera. He wanted someone who smiled at him like Tsuna smiled at Gokudera. So genuine. He just wanted a friend. Someone who cared.

He managed to catch her after school, just as she was about to walk past the school gates. She was confused as to why he stopped her but followed him to the baseball diamond nonetheless.

"Why did you call me out here?"

"I need some advice. And I thought that you were the best person to talk to."

"Okay, tell me what's wrong." And then she turned to him with those _eyes._ Oh God her _eyes._ Filled with so much genuine concern and willingness to listen, and not just hear.

"My baseball average has gone down recently and I don't know what to do." she thought for a bit.

"I know that you practice hard for baseball, that you never sleep." He nods at this, "I don't think that it is very healthy for you."

"What do you mean? Haha." his laugh was so fake that it hurt her, it was as if she could feel how hurt he was. Nobody should ever have to feel like they have to pretend.

"As much as you love baseball, it should not be the only thing in your life. Life needs to have a balance, you know. You should be hanging out with friends, you should be appreciating the little things in life, you should be _resting_. And although I don't know much about your life, I can tell that you want _more._ That you think that baseball measures your usefulness. But trust me on this, it's not. You are so much more than that. You coming out to talk to me is clear proof that you want _more._ And you deserve that, you deserve to feel fulfilment in your life. You shouldn't feel like you have to pretend to fit in, you should feel comfortable just being _you._ I'm not asking you to quit baseball, I'm asking you to know when to take a break."

Yamamoto could do nothing but stare at her. He had never experienced someone so concerned for him except from his father. He knew his teammates didn't really care much for him, he could see that their smiles were just as empty as his. Something deep in him was struck when she realized just how _fake_ he was. She could tell. She was the _only_ one who could tell. She was the only one who _cared_ enough to tell.

"T-Thank you, I should get going, haha." his usual laugh lost its fake exuberance. And he left.

He couldn't help but keep replaying her words in his head over and over again. He could see his dad frowning.

"Everything okay son?"

"Haha, I'm great! I'm just about to head out to the baseball stadium to swing a bit!" Tsuyoshi frowned even more at his son's acting.

"Well alright, be safe."

Yamamoto picked up his favourite bat and turned the pitching machine to the highest possible setting. He settled into the exhilarating feel of his bat connecting with the ball. He couldn't help but feel Tsunami's words echoing through his entire being, and then he heard it.

A resounding crack flashed his world to collapse in pain. There was a game in a month, his teammates were relying on him. He was useless. They wouldn't want him anymore. He was useless. Tsuna was right.


	4. Worry

"Yamamoto-kun is about to jump off the roof!" Tsunami nearly panicked. Did she say something wrong? Was she too forward?

"Tsuna-sama!" Gokudera called, but she couldn't hear. She was running faster than she had ever run before. The roof was filled with people, filled with people who didn't really give a single shit about whether or not he died.

"C'mon man! You've got so much to live for! We got a game next month!"

"Please Yamamoto-kun! Don't do it! We love you!"

"Please don't jump! You have such a big place in our hearts!"

Yamamoto looked on at all the fools, he knew not a single one cared about him, that not a single one _knew_ him, that not a single one cared enough to _listen._

"Yamamoto-kun!" her voice was like a siren's call, begging him to listen.

"Tsuna-chan, you were right. I'm so stupid. I should have listened."

"I-I don't understand! Was it something I said?"

"No! Please don't blame yourself! I'm the only one to blame. Baseball is everything to me, the Baseball Gods have thrown me away. Look at this useless arm, what am I supposed to do now?"

"Did you not listen to a word I said? Baseball _does not_ deem your worth!"

"You don't understand! Baseball is all I have! You would never understand! You get good grades, you have real friends, you are well respected!"

"Don't forget that I used to be 'Dame-Tsuna', don't forget that I used to _hated_ , don't forget that I was getting bullied every single day. So don't try to tell me that I don't understand Yamamoto." she got up on the ledge.

"W-what are you doing?"

"I have been where you are now. I have felt what you feel now. I have hated myself just as much as you hate yourself now. But trust me, _it gets better._ I want you to look down, it's so much higher than it was before."

He looked down and recoil at just how far the ground was, just moments before, it seemed like but a little hop down.

"Think about your dad. How do you he would feel about losing his only son?" she jerked him back to reality. He didn't realize how selfish he was. Leaving his dad just because of a broken arm that would heal itself in a manner of weeks. He sat down on the ledge.

"Oh God, Ojisan."

Later that day, Yamamoto Tsuyoshi ran into school frantically looking for his son. Yamamoto thoroughly took the time to apologise and tell his dad how much he appreciated him.

"I want to introduce you to someone." the pair walked up Gokudera checking his Boss over for injury, "This is Tsuna, she made me realise my worth." she waved hello.

"Thank you so much, I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for you. Feel free to come to the shop whenever you want, I would be very happy to see you."

"Thank you Yamamoto-san."

* * *

"Ne, Gokudera. You go on home without me. I need to take care of something." Gokudera could do nothing else but nod. He trusted his Boss, she knew what she was doing.

She made her way to into the school and knocked on a door.

"Come in." A gruff voice responded.

"Hibari-san. I think you need to have a better and higher fence around the rooftop. The one we have right now is very old and rusted. It poses a serious safety hazard."

"Hn."

"That's all." She turned to leave before he stopped her.

"Are you still upset?" he questioned.

"Of course I am, I won't forgive you until you throw away your ego and apologise. But I know you won't do that." His eyes flashed as he made his way toward her.

He crowded her to the wall, his hand cradling her cheek in his palms, holding her to him.

"When will you show your claws, kitten?" she stared into his eyes defiantly.

"I am not your goddamn _kitten"_ she practically growled. He smirked at her and held her tight

"Hnn."

"I don't have time for this, or you." his eyebrows scrunched together, "Don't expect me to talk to you again until you apologise." she threw his arms off her and made to march off before he grabbed her and pinned her to the couch.

"Let me go! I won't say it again, Let. Me. Go."

"Not until you show me your claws, omnivore."

She growled and kicked him off of her. He licked his lips in anticipation and put his tonfas up. She admittedly wasn't the best fighter around, but she could at least hold her own against Hibari. They danced around each other, landing hits every which way. Leaving bruises and scratches in their wake.

Opportunity struck the boy and he pinned her face down with a hand on her neck and his other restraining her hands behind her back. He leaned down to nuzzle her neck and licked the shell of her ear, she shivered.

"Brings back old memories." She growled and thrashed in his hold, but his hands were like iron cuffs weighing her down. "It was fun while it lasted."

"Not it fucking wasn't! You tried to force me into something that I wasn't ready for!" he let her break away.

"Hnn."

"I can't fucking believe you. I don't know what the hell got into you that day, but I sure as hell don't see any improvements."

He watched her leave the school from the window of his office, thinking. He had heard herbivores talking about what they did with their girlfriends that were inappropriate for school. He bit them to death for that. But that's what mates did. She seemed upset with the idea, going far enough to remain upset for the next two years. She expected him to apologise, but he had done nothing wrong. It was her fault for not following the laws of nature. All creatures needed to mate to create the new generation of young. He didn't understand why she was so cross with mating, he was a strong carnivore that could raise strong offspring. He sighed. ' _Women…'_

Reborn frowned at what had just happened, what kind of relation did she even have with the Hibari? Their conversation had… upsetting insinuations. He could even feel a slightly frayed Guardian Bond between the two. It was _hard_ to damage a Guardian Bond, to do so would require a great offense or betrayal. Considering what he heard, it was wasn't hard to imagine why. How had Iemitsu messed up so bad that he wasn't even aware that his daughter had been nearly raped? Or that she already had a potential Guardian? Or that his wife was mentally ill?

Something warm brushed against his senses. Tsuna was reaching out for him. She _needed_ him. He dashed across rooftops back to the Sawada household.

"Reborn." she sniffled.

"I'm here."

"I know you saw everything. You probably think I'm pathetic. Letting some guy get under my skin and throw me around." his brows furrowed in worry and pulled her into his arms.

"You showed a lot of strength and I am proud of you." He could feel her flames wrapping themselves around them, his own flames entwined with hers.

"He really hurt me, is it wrong to think that he might one day miraculously apologise? Is it wrong to want to run to him and have him hold me tight?" Reborn's eyes turned dark.

"You have to move on at some point. You are strong, you can't dwell on the past, Tsunami. I am here."


	5. The Wrath of Many

The next couple of days at school were uneventful. Yamamoto, the baseball star had gone MIA since his suicide attempt. Gokudera and Cold-Tsuna also hadn't been to school in awhile. The nickname wasn't as popular as her last one but it was more like an inside joke. Not even she knew that she had a nickname.

Tsuna had been down in the dumps for the past couple of days, alternating between laying in bed, to laying in bed to laying in bed. It was completely out of character for Reborn to have even let her take a single day off, let alone 3. She was so lucky to have someone like Gokudera to take care of her, he hadn't gone home in days just to watch over her. Gokudera had finally convinced her to eat _something_ and went down to pick up her breakfast from downstairs before the doorbell rang.

"Yo! Wanna walk together?" a real cheerful Yamamoto offered.

"Go away baseball-idiot! Tsuna-sama doesn't want to go to school!" the happy boy's eyes sharpened.

"Why?" Gokudera stumbled at the intensity.

"She won't tell me why. But come in."

"Hey Tsuna, how are you doing."

"Hnn."

Him and Gokudera shared a worried glance. They didn't know what was wrong with her or why she was upset. She wasn't sick, she just… wasn't feeling it.

"I'll go to school today." the boys were worried, should they say something? It was a good thing that she was making an effort to go to school right?

The two boys slowly nodded before making their way to the breakfast table and patiently waiting. She would come down when she was ready. No need to rush her.

"Are you sure that you're up for this?" Reborn asked her from the bed.

"A Boss can't show weakness. Like you said, I am stronger than this. And this is where I move on." he smiled at her, proud. He would never say it out loud of course, but she knew.

Reborn was right. She was strong. She was absolutely pathetic for sulking like that just because of a few words that some guy had said to her. Doesn't matter if they had been previously involved. She was better than her old self. _She was better than Dame-Tsuna._

* * *

Hibari watched from his window as the object of his affections walked in with two other herbivores. What the hell was she doing with those weak herbivores? She was a strong omnivore, she shouldn't be wasting her time with such weaklings. Why wasn't she with him, a strong carnivore? Was this to get back at him? His knuckles turned white, he needed to satiate his bloodlust. She'd see that he was her ideal mate then.

"EXTREME!" the school menace stopped in front of her, "SAWADA! WHAT YOU DID FOR MY SISTER WAS EXTREMELY EXTREME! JOIN THE BOXING CLUB!"

"Oi Turftop! Get the fuck away from Tsuna-sama!"

"EXTREME! THAT'S NOT NICE! JOIN THE BOXING CLUB, SAWADA!" his yelling was aggravating her already short temper and making her ears ring.

"No."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO? NOT JOINING THE BOXING CLUB IS VERY UN-EXTREME!"

"I said no. I do not want to join your club."

The squabbling was escalating. Gokudera had taken it upon himself to yell on behalf of the whole school at the idiot who dared to yell at his Boss. Up in the trees, Reborn was basking in his burning fury.

' _How dare he talk to her. How dare he get near her. How dare he try to touch her. How dare he touch what's_ _ **mine.**_ '

He could feel the boy's repulsive Sun flames aggressively flaring out from him. Reborn bit his lips so hard they bled. Disgusting. She was his, why couldn't he feel that?

Ryohei's yelling had died down midway. His chest felt heavy, he couldn't breathe, there was… something in the air. Something suffocating. Something deadly. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he felt like a deer caught in headlights, like _prey._ He needed to get away, he needed to hide, he needed to _run_.

The trio looked on in confusion as the rude boy in front of them had all the sudden just froze mid-sentence. He looked scared, terrified. His eyes widening impossibly, his whole body tensing in anticipation. But anticipation for what?

School flew by quickly after. Tsuna was still bothered by what happened this morning. What had made Sasagawa-senpai so frightened? That wasn't the kind of fear from a spooky story, that kind of fear was genuinely fearing for your life. But what had caused it? Gokudera-kun wasn't going to try to do any harm to him, Yamamoto-kun thought it was funny, so who or what had scared him? The thing in her gut wasn't exactly saying anything, but that didn't mean that it wasn't concerning.

Studying with Reborn that night had been difficult. He was constantly touching her. Hugging her, pressing against her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. What had gotten into him today? Was he worried about her? But… she couldn't help but feel happy. Like a there was a little sun resting in her heart whenever he held her, her whole body would heat up in happiness whenever he spoke to her, but she would feel little spigots of warmth leave her whenever he wasn't around. But she somehow always knew he was there.

Reborn knew that his actions were inexcusable, but he couldn't help it. How could he just stand there and watch when another offending Sun tried to encroach on what was his. But he could recognise what was happening. He was Tsuna's completely, and she was his everything. _She was his Sky._

* * *

Afterschool the next day, she was heading to the convenience store to pick up some groceries for dinner. A very pretty lady on her bike had stopped right next her, she was tall, buxom and had long, sleek hair. Probably Reborn's type.

"It's a very hot summer day, please take this." the lady tossed her a can of… something that made her gut scream at her. Reborn's training had payed off when she dodged the offending object and watched as the can exploded on the pavement. She was dumbfounded when the fumes killed a passing bird and had begun to disintegrate the pavement. Someone had just tried to kill her, great.

That night, when she was happily having dinner with her friends when the doorbell rang.

"Pizza delivery!" they hadn't ordered pizza, Namimori didn't even have a pizza place.

The door flung open and a box of purple death was hauled at her, lo and behold, it was that woman.

"Oh Reborn, when I found out that you had taken the job to train the next Decima, I had rushed here as soon as I could! We need to go on another job together, my love." the woman swooned, Tsuna couldn't help but feel something churning in her gut when she saw the woman in his arms. She wanted to wring the other woman's neck and watch as the life faded from her eyes.

"You know I can't do that, Bianchi. I can't abandon my job."

"But what if the Decima were say to… mysteriously disappear? Then we could go to Mafia Land together again! We can go on jobs together again!" Tsuna could see from the corner of her eye that Gokudera had crumpled to the ground, because of **her** _._

"I can't do that Bianchi. I don't have anymore feelings for you and you know that. What we had between us is gone."

"It's because of her, isn't it? She has poisoned your mind! Don't worry my love, I'll get rid of her for you!" before Bianchi could lay a single finger on his student, she was thrown back outside by a fuming Tsuna. The heat coming off his student was incinerating, she was going in Dying Will Mode without the use of the bullets.

" **Get your disgusting hand off of him. You have already hurt what is mine and you are going to** _ **pay**_ **for what you've done."**

"Don't get cocky, I'll kill you and then Reborn and I can be happy together again." Bianchi readied herself to pounce, but Tsuna was faster. She knocked the woman deep into the ground and proceeded to pound her head deeper and deeper until she was bored and wrapped her hands around her slender throat instead.

"Tsuna." she couldn't hear Reborn's voice calling out for her, all she could focus on was how this woman had hurt what was **hers.** Reborn had to physically rip his student off of his ex-lover to stop her rampage.

"Tsuna, you are going to kill her. Gokudera is fine."

" **I want her dead. She hurt what was MINE."**

Reborn regretfully knocked her out and plopped her into bed with Gokudera, As the Senior Guardian, it was his responsibility to make sure that the rest were safe. And wasn't that something? He was part of a Sky's Elements, he was part of something bigger. He was accepted. He was loved.

He looked into the crater that Bianchi's head had been slammed into and it was nothing to scoff at. He picked up the lax body of his ex-lover and gently picked her up. If Tsuna hadn't lunged, then he would have .She had threatened the safety of his Sky and he would never forgive her for that. He threw onto the earliest plane heading to who knows where. It may have been a little cruel to send a teenager to some unknown country, but he didn't care. She deserved it. He had threatened to take to life of the one who had taken him in. she had threatened to take away the one thing that made him whole. And he would _not_ allow that to happen again.


	6. Through the Looking Glass

The woman was back.

"Reborn! I love you! Please come back to me! I know you love me! Please! This… girl is getting between us! You can't let that happen!" Tsuna couldn't help but sneer at her stupidity. Did this woman not have _any_ boundaries?

"I am not leaving, Bianchi. I will not abandon my job and you will have to accept that."

"B-But Reborn! Y-You can't let this… this _bitch_ get between us! I know you still feel something for me! I know you do!" She began to beg, but the man was fuming. The girl tried to fuel Reborn's old sexual desires for her by placing his hand on her ample breasts, "See! I know you feel something for me! We can be like we were before! We can lounge at the VVIP section in Mafia Land holding each other! The bitch is forcing you to settle down! I know you can't take that! I'll kill her and we can go back to tangling between the sheets!"

A vein in Tsuna's forehead threatened to burst. Here this woman was, showing up to her house uninvited and unannounced. From the second that she had stepped her little foot into her humble household did she start complaining and begging for Reborn to take her back. She was now resorting to sexually harassing him in hopes that he would love her again.

"Bianchi. I have said this multiple times, time and time again. I do not feel anything for you. One can argue that I used you for sex. You never really meant anything to me, something to pass the time you could say. You are just one of the many." he glowered, wrenching his hand from her slack grasp. He had thought that the major hemorrhage in her brain would've taken care of her, but nothing takes the Mafia out of someone. He didn't like being wrong.

"STOP LYING! I KNOW YOU LOVE ME! IT'S BECAUSE OF _HER._ IF THE WHORE DIES THEN YOU'LL COME BACK!" Tsuna sighed, how dare this woman come into _her_ home and disrespect her like that?

Reborn ruthlessly kicked her down. "Reborn! My love! I knew you'd understand!" he drove the heel of his expensive shoes into her shoulder and she grunted in pain.

" _ **I don't know who you think you are, but you do not get to call my Sky a**_ **whore.** _ **I have tolerated everything that you have been spewing for the past hour. Tsuna did not get upset once. She is**_ **better than you."**

Bianchi began to tear up, "I-It's not supposed to be like this. Y-You promised me that you loved me! You told me I was special!" Tsuna could do nothing but scoff, she was a stupid teenager in love with a cold-blooded killer.

"You mean nothing to me." Tsuna didn't even realise that her tutor had brought out his gun before she heard him shoot. She made the mistake of looking at the girl under his foot. Just like an annoying bug. She found that she couldn't look away at her lifeless body, that she couldn't look away at the tears on her face, that she couldn't look away from the hole in her skull.

Reborn looked to his Sky and he could see that _look_ in her eyes. He never wanted her to look like that. He had that look once, his first kill. The first dose was addicting. She was entranced.

He crowded her to the wall, forcing her eyes to look away. He was so fascinated by glint in her eyes. So fascinated with the way she seemed to _beg_ with her eyes. So fascinated with how _small_ she was to him. He brought his hand to her face, so delicate and innocent.

 _He wanted corrupt her._

* * *

Tsuna-sama hadn't been to school in the past few days. The first time he rang the bell, Reborn had stared him down and slammed the door shut. It must have some sort of training. As much as he wanted to join, something in his chest forced him to step away.

His Tsuna-sama was so amazing, so precious and beautiful. He couldn't help but bliss out at the thought of her.

" _Hayato."_

" _Yes, Decima?"_

" _I want you to become my right hand man."_

" _I would be honoured to have the privilege of serving you!"_

His cheeks turned red at the thought. She called him Hayato!

"-kudera! Gokudera!" he promptly snapped out of it. Snarling at the baseball loser.

"What do you want?"

"I've been calling your name for the past ten minutes! The Disciplinary Office wants us!" Gokudera's glare simmered into confusion. He hadn't been here for all that long, ever since his Tsuna-sama had tamed him, he hadn't done any damage. Why would they be called down? If it was just him then he'd understand, he was breaking every rule on the dress code. But Yamamoto had done nothing. So why were the _both_ of them being called down _together?_

They stopped in front of a grey door, a suspicious shade of grey. Yamamoto happily knocked on the door like some kind of fool. Could he not feel the Killing Intent? Was he _that_ brand of dumbass?

"Come in." a cold voice ground out.

"We're coming in!" a cheerful Yamamoto bit out and slammed the door open while Gokudera hid behind the wall. He was proven right as Yamamoto just _barely_ dodged the object aiming for his head by the skin of teeth.

"Herbivores, you invaded my territory and I will bite you to death." the Disciplinary Committee Head lunged.

"Oh geez! It's so good to see you! What did you want us for?"

Gokudera couldn't help but feel like punching the idiot's head off, just to see if there was anything in there. There was clearly an assassin trying to murder him.

"Wowza! Are we playing tag? Haven't played tag in so long! Haha!" his eyes sharpened.

Gokudera was dumbfounded. Despite the sheer idiocy presented before him, he could see that the mentally-challenged fool was actually dodging the assassin's strikes.

"Interesting." Hibari smirked.

Yamamoto could dodge. But he couldn't dodge forever. The two boys walked home that day with severe bruising on every visible surface of their skin.

Gokudera stilled. He could smell it. He could smell it wafting through the air.

"What's up?" Yamamoto could see the miniscule trembles reverberating through his very being. He was even more concerned when his buddy threw up.

Yamamoto looked to where Gokudera was staring at earlier. A dingy little alleyway, nicely hidden from prying eyes. But not from Gokudera apparently.

He steadily walked into the darkness, maybe it was just a cat? But something in his gut told him it was _so much better._

His eyes widened at the woman carelessly thrown away, lying between garbage bags and trash. It was the woman that threatened his Tsuna.

There was but obsidian encompassed by a faint ring of chocolate in his eyes as he looked into the impressive hole in her skull.

' _Shot at close range'_ his gut told him.

Her eyes were glassy, just like the varnished tables at the restaurant. The dried tears on her face lit a fire in him. She looked so pretty with a pained expression forever frozen on her. He tucked a stray piece of hair over her ear. She was cold.

She looked just like a doll on display.


	7. New Developments

Gokudera could do nothing but stare at his feet, heaving the last vestiges of his stomach's contents. That was his sister there. As much as he was traumatised by his sister… she was still family. Oh God, he couldn't get that image out of his head. The memory of her broken body prompted another session of heaving from his body. Tears wracked his slim frame, she was the only one that cared for him. She was the only one who bothered to call him when no one else did. She was the one that understood. If it weren't for Tsuna-sama, he didn't know where he'd be.

He jolted when a warm hand pat him on the back. God, the last time anyone had done that for him had been Bianchi years ago. He looked up under bangs to look into Yamamoto's cold, unforgiving eyes. He flinched. That was _not_ a good look on him. That was the look of a killer.

"Let's keep walking, ne?" the surprisingly strong teenager hefted a heavy arm across his shoulders and practically dragged the Mafioso home.

Gokudera felt shivers go up his spine from the fake smile plastered on the boy. It was disgusting. It felt like oil sliding across his skin, it felt like ice slipping underneath his shirt, it felt like hair sticking to your forehead. It didn't feel _right._ Gokudera felt relieved when he finally slammed his dingy door in the other boy's face. He didn't feel like he was being hunted.

As soon as he heard the boy's footsteps leaving his porch, Gokudera let himself collapse to the ground, boneless. His body spasming as tears wracked his frame. There was no one else now. No one else except for his Tsuna-sama. He would never leave her. Even if she didn't want him, he would never leave.

* * *

"I'm home dad!" Yamamoto Tsuyoshi flinched at the look in his son's eyes. His only son. The most important thing to him. He forced a smile on his face, so similar to his son's.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Just a stray cat in an alley, she was pretty cute. Anyways, I'm going upstairs! I've got a lot of homework!"

Tsuyoshi waved him goodbye and watched as his son walked away. His callous hand clenched his knife so hard his knuckles went white. He could smell it off him. Blood.

Yamamoto Takeshi found it incredibly easy to lie. It felt like it was the easiest thing to do in the world! He sipped on his milk, it was great for the bones! He didn't want another broken arm, he had a game in less than a week! He pried his school bag open to do his project. It would be absolute perfection by the time he was finished with it!

With a fine hand, he slipped the bunch of magenta hair from the side pocket. So sleek and fine and perfect. It even smelt like the magnolias that surrounded his mum's grave! This was a sign!

He took out all necessary materials to make his lovely project. It would take a couple days at least! Maybe he could make one for Tsuna too? She'd like it, right? Just thinking about her made his heart swell! All he could think about was her hair too. It was soft and fluffy, he loved running his hands through it and sniffing it.

* * *

"Reborn… How does it feel to know that you have someone else's blood on your hands?" Tsuna said while gazing up at him with her impossibly big eyes.

"Do you really want to know?" she nodded. "You're scared the first time, and then you do it again. And again. And all the sudden, it's easy! It's intoxicating, you can just see the light from their eyes die, their body go slack, and their lips slowly turn blue. It's even better when you get to do it with your bare hands. You can see the fear in their eyes, feel them struggling, trying to run away and call for help. But it's useless. They all know that they are going to die anyways. You almost want to laugh."

"Is that what I'm going to feel?"

"I know you will."

"Does it feel good?"

"It always does."

* * *

Gokudera didn't show up to school for the next two days, Tsuna wasn't exactly surprised as to why. Even if he did show up, she didn't think that she had the confidence to look him in the eyes. Although Bian- the bitch- deserved it, she was still Gokudera's sister. She could have at least said something, but she didn't. She stood by and did nothing.

"Good morning!" A cheerful Yamamoto chirped while clapping a hand on her shoulder. Tsuna gave him a smile, his grin looked genuine.

"Good morning, Yamamoto-kun."

"I made you something last night!" Tsuna quirked a brow, the last time someone had made something for her was… Hibari.

Yamamoto could sense that her mood had gone sour and frowned. Was it something he said? He thought she would have been happy that he made something for her.

"Tsuna?" she snapped out of her trance and smiled at him.

"What is it?" he figured that she was strong, she could handle anything!

"Da da da dan!" He sang while pulling his gift from his bag, "I made you a yakuyoke omamori (Evil-Warding Charm)! Since you saved me that day, I thought that I would repay the favour!"

"You really didn't have to, it was the right thing to do. Besides, your dad inviting me to the shop is already enough." Her eyes had turned soft, Yamamoto figured that he liked that look on her. He nudged the charm into her bag and made a dash for the door.

"You have to promise to always wear it on your person!" he said while running for the door. Kyoko and Hana walked to her desk to interrogate her.

"Ooh, that's like a love confession, Tsu-chan!"

"Can't believe boys, don't even ask whether or not you wanted the thing or not."

"Don't be like that, he just wants to thank her!"

"Hmph!"

* * *

That night, while she was brushing up on her Mafia Etiquette with Reborn, did something hit the window.

"Did you hear something?"

"You didn't answer my question." he deadpanned while resting his chin on her shoulder.

This time, something jumped in through her window

"Gahaha! I'll kill you Reborn!" a little cow child with an afro popped in with… grenades?

"What weapons are you allowed to have on you when meeting with an Allied boss?"

"Who is this?"

"I am the assassin Lambo Bovino! 8 years old! And I like grape candy! I'm here to kill Reborn! We met at a bar when I was 5!" Tsuna frowned, who would ever send a child to assassinate the Greatest Hitman? Were they trying to sentence him to an early death? Who were these monsters?

"When is it appropriate to drink during meetings?"

The child began to cry.

She broke out of Reborn's hold and got off his lap to rummage through one of her desk drawers. She pulled out a little sachet of candies and slowly approached the child.

"Hi, do you want some? You can call me Tsuna." she cooed. Lambo stopped crying and downed the candies. "Who told you to come here?"

"Lambo's papa! Lambo's papa told me that I can't go home until I kill Reborn! When I do, I get to become Boss-Heir!" Lambo shouted proudly.

Tsuna turned around to look at her tutor in the eye. ' _Did you know about this?'_ He lipped, ' _Iemitsu.'_

She didn't think that she could resent her father anymore than she already did, but she was proven wrong. What could possibly be the purpose for forcing a small child on her? Was she not being groomed to be a Mafia Boss? How could this innocent little boy's family just abandon him? There were too many questions just swimming in her head. She sighed and gathered the smiling child in her arms and cradled him.

"From today onwards, you can call me Tsu-nee! You can stay here all you want! There's lots of candies and toys here, would you like that?"

"Yes! I want candies and toys and Tsu-nee!" the child beamed, and Tsuna's heart swelled with love.

Reborn watched as his Sky cooed at the child, she would make a fine mother.


	8. Away

Nana seemed to accommodate to the newest resident of the household well. She absolutely doted on Lambo, the way she doted on her when she was his age. Tsuna sighed as she continued to make breakfast for the morning while Nana played with Lambo. This would help her mother undoubtedly, but it didn't stop a little pit of bitterness settling in her stomach. She was her biological child, not Lambo.

Tsuna couldn't help but think of how Nana used to take the time to talk to her, how she used to scold her when Tsuna forgot to clean up her room, or how she used to worry when Tsuna would trip and her head. Where did that all go? _When_ did it all go? _When_ did Tsuna start setting her own alarms in the morning? _When_ did Tsuna start cleaning her room on her own account? _When_ did Tsuna start keeping track of what was or wasn't in the fridge? _When_ did she start growing up?

Reborn seemed to feel her distress, he always could. He strode into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her. Tsuna settled into his hold and just basked in his warmth. She loved how soft his suit was under his cheek, how deep his voice was, how… they really didn't need words. She knew that she could always rely on him.

"Any requests for breakfast? There's a lot of time before school."

"... Feeling homesick, make me muesli with fruits."

"We bought some bananas and strawberries the other day. I'll make you your espresso too." He brightened up. She made his coffee perfectly.

He leaned against the counter and stood in silence, just watching her bustle around the kitchen. She would hum to herself, sneak a spoonful just to see if it needed salt, and wipe the counters down. It was almost disgustingly domestic. But it was pleasant. He liked seeing her face light up in satisfaction when she decided the food was up to standards.

Soon enough, breakfast was made. She attached onto Reborn's homesickness and made everybody muesli. It'd also be a pleasant surprise for Lambo too.

* * *

She dreaded going to school everyday. She walked into her class and spot Gokudera. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say? Should she pretend that nothing happened and greet him? Should she avoid him? Her questions were answered when Gokudera's flames reached for hers, begging for her to be with him. She tentatively pulled out the chair in the desk in front of his and sat down.

"Good morning Gokudera, how have you been for the past couple of days?"

"Tsu-hime, I am not stupid." he intoned.

"I-I'm sorry?" Tsuna's heart began racing. But she began to prepare her heart for his rage.

"Either you killed her yourself or you watch Reborn do it. Either way, my sister is dead." Tsuna clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.

"D-do you blame me?" she hugged herself to somehow ground herself. She was wrong, nothing could prepare herself for this. She may have told herself for the past couple of days that she could handle one of her friends hating her, but she was wrong. It hurt. Bad.

"I don't, actually. She must have offended you, I would've killed her myself too if I saw her do that to you. Tsu-hime, you are the only person in my life that I care about, no one else matters. You mean more to me than you will ever understand. I will never leave you, I will never abandon you, I will never turn my back on you. You own me bodily, mentally, and spiritually." Tsuna stared into her friend's dark and empty eyes, it was like he was a doll set to repeat the same thing over and over again when you pulled it's string.

"Y-you can't just say that lightly! It means a lot, you can't just throw that out there, you can't take stuff like this back."

"I don't intend to take it back. Even if you decide that you don't want me, or I've outlived my usefulness, or I'm just not worth the hassle anymore; trust that I will be the shadow watching over you."

Tsuna almost cried. How could such an amazing person like him forgive such a monster like her?

"B-but I watched as Reborn killed her without doing a single thing! How could you stand by me knowing that I did nothing for your own sister!"

"She must have deserved it."

"B-but she's your sister!"

"And you are my Boss. You mean more to me than she ever did. She may have been there for me, but you are the one who taught me how to love and accept myself again. I will never be able to repay that debt."

Tsuna struggled to hold her tears back and excused herself from the class. Oh God, there was something so wrong with Gokudera, and she was the one to blame. And she thought he was broken before. Hah! It's nothing compared to now.

She could barely comprehend where her feet were taking her. Before she knew it, she had brought herself to the rooftop. She _really_ hoped that the bastard would be too busy doing morning patrol to come here. But of course, she was wrong. Life just _had_ to keep hitting her with more and more complications, didn't it?

"Hnn." she stared at him with tearfilled eyes before turning to open the door and leave. He jumped down in front of her, effectively cutting off her escape route.

"What do you want?" she weakly snarled, all he did was bring a calloused hand to her face to wipe her tears away. She flinched.

"Don't touch me." she raised her hands to put distance between them, but he ignored them.

"Please, just leave me alone. I don't want to deal with you right now." he stepped into her personal space and held her to him tight.

"How can you expect me to watch you cry?" Tsuna thumped her fists weakly on his chest.

"Then just leave! You seemed to have no problem with watch me cry that day." he frowned as she seemed to become more and more distressed.

"Why can't you just get over it?" she crumpled in his arms. Geez, she was so emotional! She absolutely hated the fact that she had to look weak in front of _this_ asshole.

"How can you expect me to "get over" being betrayed by you?"

"I did not betray you, I thought you wanted it." she pushed his arms off her, fueled with anger.

"How can you think that? I was kicking and screaming! How can you even think that I wanted it?" Is there something wrong with everybody she knew these days?

"Isn't that what you're supposed to want? Why did you push me away?" she painfully snorted at his ignorance.

"Because I wasn't ready? Because I wanted to take things slow? How could you do this to me?" she sighed and hugged herself.

"Why weren't you ready?" he questioned.

"Because I was 14? Because I thought I was a little too young to be losing my virginity? Y-you really hurt me Kyou- Hibari-san." his fists clenched. "I-Is it wrong to still feel for you?"

"What do you mean?" he took a step towards her, she took a step back.

"I wake up every morning missing you, I wake up every morning wondering if I was the one in the wrong. And I hate it. I hate seeing ordinary things around me as bittersweet memories with you. I hate wanting to know how your day has gone, I hate wanting to know if you read a good book recently, I hate wanting to know how many cups of teas you drank today. I hate feeling so much for you. I know I shouldn't be feeling this way for you, but I can't stop I hate how much your betrayal still hurts to this day." he took another step towards her, she took a step back.

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I knew that you would never say the same to me. That you would never love me the same." he took another step towards her and crowded her to the railings. He lifted a hand to caress her soft face streaked with angry tears.

"I think about you each and every single day." he gently cradled her cheek and pulled her in for a sweet kiss, she let him. Oh God, how she had wanted to him to hold her again, for his broad chest to beat with thoughts of her, how she wanted to feel his silent support to her ramblings. But she knew it was wrong. She softly pushed him away.

"As much as I want you, it does not excuse your actions."

"I did nothing wrong." Tsuna couldn't believe the audacity, here she was, baring her heart for this man, _again;_ and here he was, pig-headed, _again._

"Hah! There you go again! Always blaming me! I told you that I would forgive you if you would just apologize, but no. Your shitty ego always tells you that you did absolutely nothing wrong. Here we are, 2 years running. I was stupid to believe that you would change yourself for me." she scoffed and walked around him to leave. He let her.

Once again, he watched as she walked out of school from the rooftop, wishing that he could be with her again. He touched his lips, he could still feel her softness. He looked at his hands, he could still feel her warmth. He put a hand against his heart, he could still feel it racing for her. Was he truly the one in the wrong? Did he really have as big of an ego as she said? He once told himself that he would pay any price just to be with her, and yet? He couldn't even do something as simple as saying two words. He clenched his fists and left. He would have to think this over.

* * *

She reached out for Reborn, knowing that he was the only one who could console her. And wasn't that just the funniest thing in the world? Her closest confidante is the cold blooded killer, probably says something about her, huh? Maybe she's more of a monster than she had previously thought.

As she stepped into her house, she felt Reborn's comforting presence in the kitchen. She could smell a very comforting aroma emanating. How nice, he made her food.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he said as he set her orange plate down. Tsuna scoffed.

"What's there to talk about? You already saw everything that happened today. Not exactly in the mood to retell everything." she scorned.

"Alright, how about a nap later?" she nodded. A nap would be exactly what she would need to get away from all her problems. She just wished she could sleep and things would just magically go away. But that's not how the world worked, pity.

It absolutely hurt him to see her like this, made a bullet pierce his heart every time. But it was necessary to go through such situations, how could she grow otherwise?

He patiently waited for her to finish without a word, just offering his silent support. Once she was done, she shot him a look. He quickly put her dishes in the sink and carried her upstairs. He changed her out of her school uniform and into her pajamas with such tender care before tucking her in.

"Sleep well." he made to leave before she grabbed onto his wrist.

"Stay? Please?" she begged in a small voice.

"... Fine." he slipped his suit jacket off and hung it on the back of her chair, stripped himself of his dress shirt and slacks before slipping into ed with her. She was too tired to blush or be embarrassed.

She felt so safe and cozy curled up into his side, like it was made just for her. She couldn't stop a sleepy smile from splitting her face open. Reborn caressed her face like it was the most delicate thing in the world. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

' _You mean more to me than you will ever understand.'_


	9. The Act of Realization

The next day at school made her uncomfortable. She really didn't want to be here. She would much rather be in bed, not at school. Seeing Gokudera so silent made something in her break. What was she supposed to do? She effectively let the one familial figure in his life die. It got to the point that even _Yamamoto_ noticed something wrong.

"Is he okay?" he asked, the second they were alone. His usual exuberance seemed to be lost under his concern.

"Gokudera's sister died recently. He's not exactly handling it well." she sighed, she didn't tell him about her involvement. She wouldn't be able to handle another one of her closest friends looking at her like she was a monster, or with such empty eyes.

"Oh geez, s-should we do something about it?" his eyebrows crinkle in distress.

"I don't think that there's much we can do, except support him." Yamamoto silently nodded, he'd do the best he could for his buddy! That was when an idea hit him.

"I-I made one extra of the charms I made for you." he shyly beamed, scratching the back of his head and side-eyeing her for her approval.

"Maybe that'd show your support. I think he'd appreciate it." she smiled.

"I'll bring it tomorrow!" he brought his hand to her hair to ruffle. He loved the way her hair slid through his fingers. He really wanted some for himself.

* * *

The girls had invited her out for cake. Nice, just what she was craving and the distraction she needed.

"Hey Kyoko, I've been wondering… Where has your brother been? He kinda just dropped off the face of the Earth for like, the past couple of weeks." Tsuna perked at this, the last she had seen of the guy was him running away.

"Onii-chan has been really weird recently. He hasn't come out of his room or been eating well." Kyoko sighed. "He hasn't been boxing recently either. Mum and Dad don't know how to deal with him. He's never been like this." Tsuna put down her fork and looked Kyoko in the eye.

"Has he been, I don't know, paranoid recently?" Kyoko thought about it.

"Now that you bring it up… He's been saying that someone's out to get him. But that's so funny! Why would someone want to hurt my Onii-chan?" Tsuna had a grim look on her face.

"Your brother gets a little _too_ excitable. It's very possible that he was _excitable_ to the wrong people." Tsuna realistically said. Kyoko furrowed her eyebrows and puffed up defensively.

"That's crazy talk! People love Onii-chan! Why would they want to hurt him?" Hana sighed, sometimes Kyoko was just a little too dense, it wasn't even funny. Did she have a mental disorder? Did she grow up okay? Kyoko made Tsuna feel uncomfortable, her attitude was just a _little_ too similar to her mother's; it was disconcerting.

"Kyoko, I've known your brother my whole life, and he doesn't take no for an answer, no matter how much they refuse. He constantly bothers them, how many people are in the boxing club _just_ so that he'd stop bothering them?"

"You guys are so mean! Everyone in the boxing club joined because they love boxing! They all love and respect Onii-chan!" Kyoko huffed.

Hana and Tsuna looked at each other, people like Kyoko never wanted to see people's flaws or what they were. People like Kyoko _refused_ to acknowledge the reality of the world. People like Kyoko are the ones who made easy targets.

Sasagawa Ryohei had pissed off the wrong people and they _all_ knew it. But only two out of the three could realise it. But the question remained, exactly _who_ did he manage to piss off that managed to scare him into hiding?

Hana and Tsuna eventually tuned back in to Kyoko, who had by now changed the topic to what she wanted to try on the menu. It was pitiful how she tried to distract herself from the harsh realities of her life.

* * *

As Tsuna walked back home, she noticed the sheer amount of rather conspicuous, suited men surrounding the perimeters of her home. ' _I wonder what kind of murderer is in my house this time?'_ As she got closer, the group of men bowed to her.

"Sawada Tsunami-sama!" Tsuna raised an eyebrow, it sure has been a long time since anyone has used her full name. It disgusted her to hear her deadbeat dad's name along with hers. She didn't know when she stopped referring to herself as _Sawada Tsunami,_ and started calling herself just _Tsunami_. Probably during the time that her mom stopped being _Mama,_ and instead became _Nana._

As she stepped inside her humble household, she was met with Reborn having a conversation with a handsome blond at the dining table.

"Tsuna, this is Dino, his famiglia has been a longtime Ally of Vongola." Reborn hums. Dino gracefully got up to greet her with a firm shake of his hand and a big smile on his face.

"Hello lil' sis! I'm Dino and I'm going to help you out! I was also Reborn's student back in the day." he trailed sorrowfully, seemingly filled with harsh memories.

He didn't exactly look like a Boss of a Mafia Famiglia, let alone a Vongola Ally. His hair was scruffy, he was dressed in a large fur-lined jacket, graphic tee-shirt, cargo pants, and a pair of Converse.

' _He kinda looks like a hip drug dealer.'_ her mind traitorously commented. Reborn grins at her thoughts, Dino shudders.

"Why are there so many men outside? Isn't the Mafia suppose to, you know, be a covert operation? Why are there so many noticeably suited men surrounding my house?"

Dino was stumped, why _did_ he bring so many men into such a small neighbourhood where neighbours were sure to gossip? Dino felt a blush of embarrassment rise to his cheeks. God! He was a respected Don to one of the most prestigious famiglias in the world! He raised his Famiglia out of debt! He survived Reborn! Yet here he was, making a mistake in front of his tutor; that his 15 year old sister (with no Mafia training to boot) pointed out within seconds.

Dino cried. Romario offered him a hanky. Tsuna looked on in bewilderment. Reborn looked on in disappointment.

Tsuna whispered quietly to Reborn, "Is this how all Bosses are?". Reborn sighed and cried; "No Bosses should look like this, what an utter disappointment. To think that I personally trained him! Oh, how he has fallen from grace!"

Dino could do nothing but cry louder.

* * *

 _Somewhere in Russia_

"VOIIIIIII!" Squalo yelled to the heavens. "WHY THE FUCK WOULD THIS BITCH ASS KID FUCK OFF TO THE COLDEST FUCKING PART OF RUSSIA?! WHY COULDN'T HE HAVE GONE TO, I DON'T KNOW? A PLACE WITH A WARMER CLIMATE?! CHINA WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST FINE!" The man's hair whipped about him as he vigorously waved his real arm and his sword arm towards the tranquil sky. "WHY THE FUCK DID I AGREE TO CHASE THIS FUCK ASS KID DOWN?! WHY DIDN'T DIPSHIT LUSSURIA FUCKING GO?!"

The locals of that particular village stared at the crazy man yelling a the top of his lungs in some random language on top the highest cliff around. Mental asylums should really keep a tighter watch on their patients.

"Whatever… I can do this. Fucking kid doesn't even know how to regulate Flame output, dumbass; he'll tire eventually. The next successor for the CEDEF? My ass! Don't understand why Nono would employ that brain dead Iemitsu. Bitch doesn't even know how to train his proteges properly! Boss would have been much better!" he scoffed. "I swear to fucking God, if the kid doesn't go to someplace warmer, I'll stick him in a boiler! Just you wait!"

With that, Squalo finally leapt off his perch a top that cliff in that village in Russia; the villagers all collectively gave a sigh of relief.

* * *

Tsuna groaned as she collapsed on her bed after yet another emotionally exhausting day of school. There wasn't even anything major that happened! It was the little things around her just really got her down and soured her mood. From girls gossiping in the washroom, to boys throwing immature jokes at each during class, to somebody accidentally burning their cookies in Home Ec. But the worst thing? Seeing Gokudera everyday. He no longer smiled, he no longer leapt up in aggression at the history teacher's inaccuracy, and he no longer went to his Astronomy club. It was like all the life that was in him was suddenly just sucked away. All of these things just made her want to snuggle under her covers and just _sleep._

"Tsuna." she hummed in acknowledgement.

"The Ninth Boss has made a request. He wants you to hunt down an escapee from the highest security prison in the entirety of the Mafia; Rokudo Mukuro." he threw the folder at her.

She looked at him and sighed, "If he managed to escape from such a prison; how does he expect his inexperienced, almost civilian heir to handle him? Why can't he?"

"Said something about testing you; a little extreme if you ask me. How are you by the way?" He sat the bed next to her.

"I'm fucking tired." he put his hands on her back and gently kneaded the knots out.

"Is that how a lady of your status should be talking?" He sighed, "I am very disappointed in your use of such profane language, I thought I taught you better."

"... Hmph."

Reborn rolled his eyes at her childish behaviour, he hardly got to see this side of her. "Whatever, take your nap and go to the grocery store, my espresso beans are running low."

"Yeah yeah, just let me fucking sleep already." just then, the door was slammed open.

"Gupya! I want to play! Come play with me Tsu-nee! Come on! I'm bored!" Tsuna popped her head up from under the sheets.

"Lambo, I'm really tired, can we play later?"

"B-but I want to play now!"

"Lambo! Please! I've had a really stressful day!" she tried to reason.

"You're so mean!" Before the older occupants of the room could interfere, Lambo had already pulled and shot his bazooka at Tsuna.

*POOF*

Tsuna found herself in bed with a grown man with some rather long and luscious hair. He looked at her and smiled with a shark-like grin.

"Hullo sweetheart," he purred, "I loved your innocent look back then, so… corruptible."

Tsuna stammered for words, god damn Lambo! Should've taken away that bazooka a long time ago! "I-I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Hmm? Well you don't know me _yet_. But trust me, princess; we're going to get to know each other _very_ soon, and _very_ well." He gave her a deep kiss that had her toes curling before she was popped back into her own time.

She looked around and saw that Lambo had finally given up his tirade and had fallen asleep; Reborn looked disheveled with the bazooka in his hands.

"What happened?" Reborn looked her in the eye and chuckled, "I guess you can say that you came onto me a little strongly."

"Well then, anyways, I had an _experience_ , definitely don't think that I'm going to bed anytime soon. Might as well go shopping now, anything else you want?"

Reborn pondered for a bit, "I'm fine."

"Okay, well I'm off!" she moved to leave her room before Reborn gently grabbed her shoulder.

"I'm glad that you're feeling better." before he nudged her down the hall.

* * *

The entire trip to the store had her grinning from ear to ear, some of her classmates who were picking up groceries as well were dumbfounded. Since when did Cold-Tsuna smile?

She decided to take the long scenic route back, the sun was just setting and there was a community garden that needed tending. She got some carrots for her efforts. As she passed by the nearby park, she was almost bulldozed by a child.

"Hey, be careful there! You could have gotten hurt!" she lectured.

"I need your help, Sawada Tsunami!" she was taken aback, who was this child? Did they have Mafia connections? "You are ranked in the number one spot for: Not Being Able To Refuse Request of Sanctuary From Children, Kindest Person in the Mafia, and Most Honest!"

She turned to take a peek at where his eyes kept darting to and heard the faint pattering of feet. "Are they after you?"

"Yes." Her eyes turned orange and she picked him up with ease and began running home. Reborn was there to open the door for them as she ran through.

"I see you have found the Ranking Prince. Did you get my beans?" Her eyes slowly faded back to her natural brown before nodding.

"With the best quality! Anyways, who is this?" she prompted while nudging her head at her child in her arms.

He helped her put away the groceries while giving her an explanation, "The Ranking Prince is known to be able to rank anything in the world; from who is most capable to lead a Famiglia, to what store has the best sale, to who is most likely to be a traitor. Has an immense target on his back, any Famiglia who has him would have great power."

Tsuna looked at the boy, "Is this true?" He nodded.

"I keep all of my rankings in my book! Reborn is ranked at number one for most powerful Sun!" Tsuna quirked her head at the boy.

"What do you mean by "Sun"?" Reborn's head popped out from the kitchen.

"Did I not talk about that?"

"Definitely not. Is it important?" Reborn sighed at his own incompetence, just… wow.

"Possibly _the_ most important thing in the Mafia, actually." As he gave her the _Talk_ about Flames, she seemed to understand their own relationship better.

"So… you are my Sun."

"Correct."

"You are my Guardian."

"Correct."

"I am your Sky."

"Correct."

"How did that happen?"

"You have an extraordinary orbit around you because of your Sky Attraction, always have. Despite your Seal, you still managed to bring people in. That's why so many people bullied you, even though there were many others who's grades were just as bad as yours." Tsuna took a while to process things before she got even more confused.

"Wait a minute, what's this… Seal? What does it mean?"

Reborn searched her eyes to ground himself in order to find a way to explain this to her without blowing up in anger himself.

"When you were younger, Nono's three sons were still alive." He took a deep breath through his nose, "Because you were from the main branch of the family and have such a rare bloodline, Iemitsu decided that Nono's boys' would take you as a threat to the succession. You weren't Active, _yet._ So he decided to keep both you and your mother ignorant of his ties with the Underworld, there was no point in telling you as you would never come into contact with anything Mafia related. But things changed when you accidentally manifested your Flames. All of the sudden, you really were a _threat_ , you had the bloodline, the Intuition, and the Flames. So Iemitsu decided that; because you were a civilian, you wouldn't need your Flames. He agreed for Nono to Seal them away. That was why you were so clumsy as a child and why you couldn't pay attention in school."

Tsuna stayed silent throughout his explanation. "When I was younger, "Grandpa Nono" visited once with Iemitsu. There was a chihuahua that always barked when I was around. So I climbed a tree to get away from it. The branch snapped and I think that that was when I Activated. Iemitsu took me inside and Nono took it away. All the sudden, everything was cold. No matter how many blankets I put on, no matter how hot the bath was, no matter how intense the summers got; I was still cold. It was so hard to focus. All the sudden, I could hear _everything,_ I could see _everything,_ I could feel _everything._ From that little speck of dust that landed on the windowsill, to the falling particles of chalk flaking off as the teacher wrote, to that rock somebody crunched across the street. It only got better after I met Kyou- Hibari-san" She let off a self-deprecating chuckle, "all the suffering I've had to endure in this life is all because of my so call _father._ Isn't that something?"

Reborn could do nothing but sit there in silence.


	10. Missing

There was a pattern developing. Abandoned mafia children just seemed to gravitate to her part of the world. From Lambo, to most recently Fuuta and Ipin. And it seemed that every time a new child joined the Sawada household, Nana would dote on them. Tsuna didn't feel like she belonged in that house anymore, she was like the outsider looking in, an intruder. Did she belong in their world? In their world of complaining about toys, in their world of wanting dessert before dinner, in their world of tantrums? Maybe she did, once.

It felt like a struggle getting up and out of bed each morning.

It started to develop into a cycle. She felt like a doll.

Get up, make breakfast, and go to school. Leave school and walk back home. Study, go to sleep. Rinse, wash, repeat.

Nothing seemed interesting enough for her anymore, the only even getting her out of bed and going to school every morning was Reborn.

It was always Reborn.

Just a little sliver of sunshine to brighten up her day.

He would wake her up and place her in front of the mirror every morning. He would hold her tight from behind and whisper into her ear, "You are strong, you can do this, you can get over this." he would kiss her neck and allow his flames to mix with hers.

She looked forward to those.

"Have you thought about how you're going to go about Rokudo?" he breathed into her ear as she stirred the pot of soup on the stovetop.

She sighed, "Not much, does the Ninth have a deadline to when I'm supposed to be "hunting down" this guy?"

Reborn took a moment to think, "Probably as soon as possible."

"As soon as possible can wait until after I finish studying for that test tomorrow."

"... Fair."

Tsuna took a deep breath and stuck her head out the kitchen, "Breakfast's ready!". All members of the Sawada household began to scramble to sit at their seats.

"Get out of here, Broccoli Head!"

"I was here first!"

"No, I was!"

"Bleh!" Tsuna looked around.

"Settle down children, what's for breakfast, Tsu-chan?"

"Where's Fuuta?"

Everybody seemed startled, they begun to look around wildly. Truthfully, Fuuta Della Stella was nowhere to be found.

"Seems like Fuuta went for a walk" hummed Nana.

"I just saw Fuuta-nii just this morning!"

Tsuna looked at Reborn, "Fuuta wouldn't wander off without telling us, did you see anything?"

Reborn thought for a bit, "He woke up in the middle of the night and left the house, he hasn't been back since."

The future Mafia boss could do nothing but shake her head, she knew that it could only be mafia related. But this behaviour disturbed her greatly, Fuuta was a Mafia child, he knew danger, and he knew how to avoid danger. She hadn't known the child for long, but every piece of her wanted to wrap him up and keep him safe from the world. She sighed, "We'll just wait until he wants to come back!" she said with a fake smile. Her mother was the only one fooled.

Breakfast was a tentative affair, the only sounds came from the matriarch and the children; all of them were so easily distracted from the fact that a member of their household had gone missing, Tsuna couldn't bring herself to talk. There was a niggling feeling in her chest that just wouldn't go away. She just knew that something was wrong. So horribly wrong.

* * *

School was a tedious affair. She couldn't focus, not that she usually did anyway, Yamamoto and Gokudera could sense her mood and snuck worried peeks at her.

Gokudera, Tsuna still couldn't look in the eye. He was so empty, like there was no life in him any more. He no longer bickered with Yamamoto, he no longer argued with the history teacher on accuracy, and he no longer went to his Astronomy club meetings. It was as if his only purpose in life was to obey her. It made her hate herself.

When the bell sounded, Tsuna ran off to sit by herself. How could she just joyfully chat with her friend's when someone in her household had just gone missing? She ran off to a secluded area to meet with Reborn.

As the two boys saw her run away, they let her be, she seemed to wanted to be alone. Yamamoto rummaged through his bag for his charm, he exclaimed happily when he found it. He walked up to Gokudera, geez! He really did seem down in the dumps.

"What do you want." Gokudera side-eyed him warily, Yamamoto flashed a grin.

"You seem to have been down in the dumps recently! So I went and made you a charm!" Yamamoto handed him the small pouch, "This will surely keep all the bad out, and invite all the good in!" Yamamoto laughed and ran out.

Gokudera stared at the small pouch in his hands and slipped it into his bag, Tsu-hime probably put the fool up to it. He'd accept the charm, just for her. But Yamamoto, he worried for; Yamamoto unfortunately happened to be the minority of children who were natural assassins. There was always something wrong with them, they never fit in right, because of this, many civilian ones would kill themselves early on, and those in the mafia turned into killing machines or joined the Varia. Yamamoto must have had a good role model to have adjusted this well. But he worried that seeing the dead body of Bianchi triggered something in him. He'd have to keep a closer eye on him, the wrong instincts might manifest in front of his Tsu-hime, and he could not allow that to happen.

* * *

Tsunami looked up the tree that Reborn was sitting in and began to climb. She made herself comfortable and dug into her lunch.

"Forgot to introduce you to him, but I've instated a new nurse, Trident Shamal."

"Anything I should know about him?"

Reborn began counting the list off his fingers, "He's a total lech, only likes treating women, doesn't like the thought of men, one of the greatest minds in the mafia, a great assassin, one of the only surviving that rejected an offer from the Varia."

"What's Varia?" She said with food muffling her words.

Reborn shook his head, "Don't talk with your mouth full and they are an organization of the top assassins in the mafia, they act as a separate branch of Vongola."

"That sounds like fun."

"So I'll just let you know, don't go anywhere near him!" She could only nod. "He is a man-whore and will not hesitate to sexually harass you!" She nodded.

* * *

Shamal sneezed, ' _Was someone talking about me?'_

He shook himself out of that thought and continued to meticulously organize his released Trident Mosquitos, but without his knowledge, one escaped out the window and flew out the window and up through the room of the window a floor up.

Tetsuya stepped into the reception room with a small stack of papers, "Tanaka Jinzu-san was sent to the hospital early this morning." he said as he plopped the papers on his desk.

Hibari hummed as he began to look through the contents.

"This makes it the ninth disciplinary member this week."

"Anything left on his body?"

"All of his teeth were pulled out."

Hibari clenched his knuckles until they turned white. Herbivores had dared intrude on his territory, they had dared to question his rule, they had dared to hurt those under his wing. Unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable. When he finds the culprits, he would show no mercy.

* * *

"Levi honey, you don't have to sit here every waking second, Boss is still frozen."

"I will sit here until Boss is awake! Until then, I will not move!"

Lussuria rolled his eyes, "Look, he won't be awake for another couple of weeks or so! Just leave! You're disturbing my concentration!, jeez!"

"I refuse! I will remain here, ready for Boss' orders!"

Lussuria could do nothing but clutch his face in his hands.


	11. New Beginnings Mean New Endings

The next week left everyone at Namimori Middle School edgy. Members of the Disciplinary Committee were dropping like flies and Hibari Kyouya was _not_ happy.

People had even heard that Sasagawa Ryohei, the truant and Captain of the Boxing Club (which no longer had any members), had his house broken into and the burglars sent him to the hospital!

"What's the situation?"

Tetsuya shuffled through some papers, "Sasagawa Ryohei-san had five teeth removed. The culprits have been taking less and less teeth, it's like a countdown."

"Hnn, any word on possible suspects?"

"We've gotten an eyewitness report on newcomers settling in Kokuyo Land, they've been going in and out."

Hibari's eyebrows furrowed. So these were the herbivores who had harmed so many of his own? They were going to pay. He slipped his coat on and marched out of the hospital, his fingers itched to spill blood.

* * *

"Alright Reborn, I'm ready to 'deal' with the Rokudo issue, what should be done first?" Tsuna drawled out from her bed.

He turned his gaze from his book to her, "You can start by gathering your forces and developing a backup plan."

"So you want me to bring in Gokudera and Yamamoto?" She sighed to herself, "Is it really that unavoidable? I really don't want to drag them into this kind of life. I've already caused enough grief to Gokudera, I don't think that I can take Yamamoto turning into another Gokudera."

"Gokudera has been in this life since birth, and he knows the consequences of being an assassin. But Yamamoto is a _special_ kind of situation."

"Explain." Reborn put his book down to fully turn to her.

"Yamamoto's father was an assassin."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tsuna questioned.

"Yamamoto… isn't all there. He's a natural assassin." Tsuna turned her head to Reborn with a quirked eyebrow in question, "Natural assassins like him process things differently and rely on base instincts more than social queues. All they need is a trigger and they fall into that mindset permanently."

Tsuna thought for a bit, "No wonder my Intuition doesn't like him sometimes."

"Is that so? How long has this been happening?"

"... Since Bianchi died." Tsuna said with a frown before a thought hit her, "Come to think about it, how did Gokudera find out about Bianchi dying? It's not anywhere near the route he usually takes to his house. Gokudera free runs home."

Reborn sat silently to consolidate the possibilities of Gokudera finding the body, "Gokudera might not have been walking alone that day. Yamamoto usually walks home with him along that specific route to Gokudera's house, Yamamoto can't free run."

Tsuna whipped her head at her tutor, horrified by the implication.

"Oh God, please don't tell me…"

Reborn sighed, "I don't think that Gokudera was the one to discover his sister's corpse."

"If that's so, then… then I fucked up _both_ of my friends." He got up to grab both of her hands.

"Listen, it was _not_ your fault. _I_ was the one to put that bullet through her brain, _not_ you." He held her to him tenderly. He could feel her trembling.

"I-It doesn't matter! I still stood by and did nothing! All because I was selfish! I wanted her to die because of what she was to you! I didn't care at all about Gokudera's feelings! And look at him now."

"Hey, things like this happen. In our world, death comes sooner or later. Everything that's happening right now? It'll be over sooner or later."

"I-I know, but it's just so _hard_ right now. Gokudera is living without living, Yamamoto isn't right in the head, Mama isn't right in the head, Fuuta's gone, Kyouya turned into an insensitive asshole. I just don't know what to do anymore. Everything's gone to hell and I'm stuck in the middle of it." Reborn could do nothing but hold her in his arms, he wanted to hide her away from the rest of the world. He wanted to make sure that nothing could ever hurt her, but she needed to learn how to fight her own battles.

"How can I ever live with myself? What am I supposed to _do_ with myself, Reborn? It was bad enough that Iemitsu ruined me and my family, but now I'm ruining other people's lives and _their_ families? Why does everything always go wrong with me? Why is it always me!? What did I ever do to deserve this?" All he could do was hold her tighter and force his face to remain neutral as she struggled to overcome her voice cracking.

* * *

When all was said and done, Tsuna marched into the decrepit old school where Rokudo's gang was hiding out in with both of her friends. They threw her concerned glances every now and again, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She only had a loose grasp of reality and could barely process them talking to her. It was like she was looking out of another person's eyes. Seeing it all happen without any bodily control. It was almost as if her very mind was too weak to control both her emotions _and_ her body.

As the three of them fought, she found that her body was on auto-pilot. Just doing whatever it needed to do. But when she saw Fuuta, she snapped out of it for a little bit, until he stabbed Gokudera in the stomach.

She saw red, and if Fuuta had been any older than he was, she might just have dropped kicked him into the ground, but he was too young, so she opted to just knock him out instead.

Then she took notice of the pineapple looking fool at the front of the room. Skinny, tall, pale, blue hair, and a kanji for a pupil. The guy really did look like a clown, albeit one that wasn't exactly right in the head. He was grinning like the fool he was and going off on some villainous monologue that she tuned out _before_ she even started listening. And then she heard a gun cock, and it all went black before she came back with this _burning_ need.

"Well hello there, Decima. Mind donating your body to a greater cause?" The piece of shit grinned.

She calmly walked up to the dude, presumably Rokudo, and _slapped the ever-loving shit out of him_. Honestly, who did he think he was? Pulling up to some random city to harass the high school population, start pulling out their teeth and thank God for Namimori's free healthcare program that the Hibari's instituted. And to go off and start kidnapping little children? What was even wrong with him? She didn't give any fucks that he had a 'vendetta' against the Mafia and that he would 'eradicate it from the inside-out', what the fuck is a single skinny ass dude going to do against millions of people across the globe? And to ask if she wanted to 'donate her body'? That was basically asking if she was a prostitute! The audacity.

She only stopped when her anger simmered to embers, that was when she noticed that they weren't alone in the room anymore, some more circus freaks showed up in their ooky-spooky Black Butler get-up. "Can I, help you?"

"... We are here to bring Rokudo Mukuro back into custody."

"Where's that?"

"It does not concern you." The Vindice, (Vindi. singular?) member growled out.

"Did you at least update security protocols?"

"..."

"Since, you know, he broke out of the most secure facility on Earth." Yamamoto snorted.

"He will be transported to solitary confinement in maximum security."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I do not answer to you."

Tsuna rolled her eyes and walked to Reborn's ready stack of clothing. "I was just asking a question." she grumbled under her breath.

As the Vindice neared Rokudo, he began to scream. "YOU CAN'T TAKE ME BACK THERE! YOU CAN'T!" As much as it broke her heart to hear somebody scream in such desperation, she didn't have room in her mind to care about another person's wellbeing, she just didn't have the capacity for it, along with every else that she had been juggling as of late, especially for somebody who she wouldn't have been able to do anything for, even if she tried.

Walking out of Kokuyo Land, her mind reverted back to the mindless puppet-state when she saw Hibari limp out in the corner of her eye. When she got home, she drew a hot bubble bath. Perfect for burning all that negativity. As she immersed herself, Reborn opened the bathroom door with two glasses of wine and plopped himself down on the floor beside the tub.

"A little inappropriate, isn't it? Coming into your young, teenage student's bathroom while she's bathing? As well as promoting underage drinking?" she drawled. "A scandal, don't you think?"

He chuckled deeply while handing her a glass. "What can I say? I am a hitman, promoting underage drinking is the least of my worries." he took a swig of his glass, "Didn't exactly peg you for the type to take bubble baths, I thought only _ladies_ did that."

She tilt her head to look over him with her nose in the air, "Well, I guess you can officially say that I am, indeed, a lady."

"I don't know about that. I mean, all the _unladylike_ things you said to Rokudo don't exactly support your claim, sweetheart."

"You say _unladylike_ , I say that's just the depression talking."

He grinned, "Interesting that your sad self is funnier than your normal self." She gave him an unimpressed face.

"Ha ha, I guess you can say that everything is funnier when I'm sad, including you." He looked offended, "That's right, you aren't funny."

"How dare you, I think that I am plenty funny." he sniffed.

"Yeah, like a clown."

"I am nothing like Rokudo! I cannot even believe that you would ever say that. I am leaving." he huffed while snatching her wine glass out of her hand. "Don't even know how to appreciate good wine" and left her to her own devices.

She could barely remember what happened today, but that was fine, those memories weren't even worth remembering anyway. She knew that she had completely acted out of character today, but as they always say, laughter is the best medicine.

* * *

"Son-" "I'm not your fucking son, you made that pretty fucking clear."

He sighed, " _Xanxus,_ I want you to go to Japan to test the Decima candidate."

"Why should I? How does it benefit me?" The angry teenage growled out.

"There is no one that I can trust to test young Tsunami, except for you."

Xanxus barked out a laugh, "So _now_ you 'trust' me?" he gestured with his hands, "where the fuck was that 'trust' when I told you about the corruption within the upper echelon? Where was that 'trust' when I told you that there were rats within the new Allies?"

"..."

"Well? Are you going to fucking answer me or not?" he sneered at the old man, "Or do I need to say it louder and slower? Since, you know, you're getting on with the years."

"I don't need to answer you." Xanxus threw his hands up in the air in disbelief.

"I _told_ you about everything that was going on behind your back. All the backroom deals, all the traitors, and all the spies. But you _chose_ to FUCKING LET ME ROT IN A FUCKING BLOCK OF ICE FOR EIGHT YEARS!" Nono looked contrite, but Xanxus knew better. "Oh, I'll help you alright. You just need to do something for me first."

Nono was suddenly faced with his not-son's hand grabbing his face and slamming it down into the edge of his desk. And all he knew was black.


	12. Emotion

**A/N: There is _alot_ of OOC in this chapter. I always see specific characters depicted as 'gods' and not really as real human beings.**

* * *

Fuuta was brought back home safely, relatively. He may have been fine physically, but mentally and emotionally? Now that was another story.

"...Tsu-nee." Fuuta mumbled while tugging at her skirt. Tsuna bent down to listen. "Am I a bad person?"

She quirked her head in worry, "What makes you say that, sweetheart?" Fuuta hung his head in shame.

"I hurt people and got people hurt." Tsuna pulled the young boy in for a tight hug.

"It was not your fault and never will be!" She said with conviction, "You did not do this by your own will."

"But does it matter?" he sniffled, "It doesn't change the fact that it was with _my_ rankings, written by _my_ hand, given by _my_ hand, that got people hurt! And it doesn't change the fact that it was with _my_ hand that made that Gokudera-san bleed! It doesn't change the fact that _I_ was the one that hurt people! If Rokudo had been anybody else in the Mafia, those people would have been dead!"

Tsuna didn't know how to comfort the boy with words, so she held him tight. There were no words that could have possibly made him believe her or could reassure him. It made her sad to think that _this_ was the life of a Mafioso. That someday, she'd be responsible for hurt people. That she would have to witness those close to her hate themselves because of her. Was this really what she wanted in her life? Was what she was experiencing now the last of her 'happy' days?

As she tucked Fuuta in bed for an early night, she walked back to her room with her head hung in reflection. As she nervously organized her room, she gulped and looked at Reborn's unofficial corner of the room and steeled herself.

"Reborn," he lifted his eyes from his book, "Is there… any possible way that I can escape the Mafia? I know, I know, highly unlikely, but I just want to hear it said."

He snapped his book closed and quirked a brow, "What brought this on?"

"I just," she fiddled with her hands, "realized what kind of life that I would be condemning myself to. I am realizing all the… situations that I will feel responsible for." She met his eyes, "Is it worth it?"

He crossed the room and held her to him, "If you were just a low-level lackey in a small Family, then yes. Unfortunately," he sighed, "You are the Heiress of the Greatest Famiglia in the Mafia."

"That's what I thought." she said while shaking her head. "I-it's just… I don't know. I'm having a lot of anxiety right now about just _knowing_ that I'll be feeling like… like shit in the future about this whole Mafia thing." She nervously tucked her hair over her ears, "What- what if I make the wrong decision? What if that decision causes thousands and deaths that could have been avoided? What if I just ruin _even_ more families?"

Reborn tucked her head underneath his chin. "It upsets me to tell you that I don't know how to support you. But is there anything that I can do to help?"

Tsuna looked at him in the eye and sighed, "I just want you to be with me. Can you promise me that?"

"I promise." "Thank you."

And so, she sealed the deal with a tender and chaste kiss.

* * *

Yamamoto was a jealous person. Now this pit of bitterness settled deep in his chest was _not_ a new experience.

He was jealous of the fact that other people had moms that weren't dead.

He was jealous of the fact that other people had friends, _real_ friends.

And he was jealous of the fact that Gokudera was hogging all of his cute Tsuna's time and attention.

He didn't understand. What did _Gokudera_ have that he didn't? Sure, Gokudera was smart. Sure, Gokudera was organized. Sure, Gokudera came out as top dog on midterms. But he had good qualities too!

He knew that he was athletic. He knew that he had the brightest smile. He knew that he could whip up any traditional Japanese dish in a jiffy. So why didn't Tsuna look at him?

It had all started after he and Gokudera had found his sister dead.

Gokudera seemed just fine after, he really didn't understand what Tsuna was talking about when she said that "he wasn't handling it well". He was acting the same as ever!

But then, he kept seeing Gokudera with his Tsuna. He would already be at Tsuna's when he went over for breakfast before school. He would help wash up the dishes with Tsuna's Mama. He would walk her to every class. And he would walk home with Tsuna afterschool and shop for groceries!

It wasn't fair!

They were purposely excluding him!

They _knew_ that he could only go to Tsuna's just before breakfast because he woke up late. They _knew_ that he often had seconds and couldn't help clean up after eating. They _knew_ that he had classes on the other side of the school. They _knew_ that he had baseball practice every Tuesday and Thursday! And most importantly? _Gokudera_ knew when and how to keep Tsuna's attention on him! What to say, what to do, when to 'get stabbed'!

Gokudera wasn't anything special.

Gokudera was just a jealous, childish, attention-thirsty _gaijin_ who thought that he could- _deserved_ have Tsuna's attention.

But that didn't matter, because his Tsuna was a smart cookie!

She would see that he was worth it.

She would see that he could offer _so_ much more.

And she would see that he was _better._

* * *

Ipin was a fairly new addition to the household. She had mistaken her Tsu-nee for her target, but after they cleared the issue with her nearsightedness, her Shifu had requested that Tsu-nee look after her for the time being.

But she was excited this day, very excited! She dodged the Broccoli Head's thrown wooden blocks and raced to her Tsu-nee's room to tell her the good news.

As she whipped open the door, Reborn was already there. He was giving her a big hug, she wanted one too!

"Tsu-nee! I want a hug too!" she demanded. When Reborn _finally_ let her Tsu-nee go, she leapt into her arms, "Guess what, guess what?!" she gushed.

"What is it?"

"My Shifu is visiting!" She was unbelievably excited, it had been a long time since she had seen her mentor, and she was so excited for her Shifu to meet her Tsu-nee!

Her Tsu-nee smiled at her, "Yeah? Do you know when and how long he'll be here?"

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"That's him!" she squealed. She raced down the stairs and ripped the door open to the tall man clad in red.

"Don't run in the house! How many times do I hav-" Tsuna stopped mid-sentence.

The looked like Hibari, or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, the resemblance was uncanny. She regathered her wits and properly greet the man.

"Hi! My name's Tsuna!" She chippered. He smiled at her, weird. A smile on her ex's face was _not_ something that she thought that she would ever see again.

"Call me Fon." He perked at Reborn's presence behind her, "And Reborn! What are the chances that I'd see you here!"

"Didn't know that you took in apprentices these days." He grinned.

As the four of them held a riveting conversation at her dining table, Tsuna enjoyed herself immensely. Fon was a kind and sharp-witted man. He cracked jokes which made her howl with laughter and enraptured her with his philosophy (it also didn't help that he was _so incredibly_ attractive). As the hours passed by (and thank God that it was the weekend), Ipin began to slouch with exhaustion.

"Let's get you to bed." Tsuna said while picking up the small child, she turned to the girl's mentor, "Where are you staying tonight?"

"I was planning on leaving tonight, actually." Tsuna raised a brow at the man. "I just wanted to visit my protégée and leave."

Tsuna took his words in consideration, "Is it because you're busy or just don't have a place to stay? And be honest here."

"I don't have a place to stay." he sighed.

"Well would you _like_ to stay in town for longer?" he nodded. She beamed at him, "I'll get the guest room ready for you."

As she left, Reborn produced a bottle of Quality whiskey from out of nowhere and poured the both of them a generous helping of the amber liquid.

"Is she…?" "Yes, she is."

"She must be one hell've a Sky to have reeled _you_ in."

"I can't believe it either. I mean, Luce was a nightmare; you and I both know how _that_ turned out."

"Mhm."

Reborn cradled his head in his hands, "I honestly did not think that I would ever Harmonise again."

"I know how that feels." Fon sympathised. "The Strongest Seven are called that for a reason, and for a sixteen-year-old teenager to rake one of _us_ in? Unbelievable."

"I don't even know how to describe it." Reborn sighed, "It never felt like this with Luce." "Explain." "I feel this… this _need_ to have her in my life. Like I would just die if she ever decided to leave. Like I would not hesitate to take down anyone that made her upset. Like I would feel _empty_ without her."

Fon stared blankly at the man, _that_ did not sound healthy at all. He downed the rest of his glass before refilling it and downing that too. He needed to be drunk to listen to _this_ rant.

"You don't understand. She is like a part of me that I never knew existed. She is like the Moon to my Sun, like she is the one thing in my life that I need to stay balanced. Like the world would stop turning and everything would just be chaos if I didn't have her."

And he kept going on. Frankly? It was concerning. But he would not stop.

"It's like I discovered breathing. Even just remembering my life before her makes me cringe. It's almost as if I was _nothing_ before her, you know?" "No, I don't know."

"Do you think you'll ever Harmonise again?"

"Honestly?" Fon thought, "Probably, if _you_ of all people did, then I just might. But do I want to? Now _that_ is something to be considered."

"Completely understand that, Harmonising is something to be afraid of."

"Do I want to Harmonise? Yes. Am I scared of it? Yes." Fon pinched the bridge of his nose, "On one hand, it's great! _If_ you bond with the right person. And if you don't, well jokes on you." Fon clenched his fist, even _thinking_ about that woman made his skin crawl. "Luce traumatized a lot of us. She betrayed us in the worst possible way and took us for granted. I would have done anything for that woman to even get a _glance_. I _wanted_ her to notice me. I _wanted_ her to talk to me, not because she _had_ to, but because she _wanted_ to. And the one time get that chance? Well, you and I both know how _that_ ended."

Reborn nodded, "And how do you feel about Aria and Yuni?"

"I don't even _want_ to think about them," he scoffed. "If Luce were still around and _hadn't_ condemned us to that Curse for thirty years, I _might_ have cared. But that's not how the story went, so… I really couldn't care less. I know I probably shouldn't be projecting my hatred of Luce onto them, but I can't help it. They look like her, act like her, and have her blood in their veins."

"Let me tell you, those days were the roughest days of my life." Fon nodded as Reborn started, "From believing that you belonged somewhere for the first time in your life, to having that same person who made you feel that way destroy your life." he downed the rest of his glass before pouring another. "Being in that body _messed_ with me. Looking in the mirror everyday and seeing a toddler but _knowing_ that it's really just you?"

"I struggled really hard with that." Fon sighed.

"I was _disgusted_ with myself. I _should not_ have had that body. But I did. Being in that body _did_ things to me. I knew that I was still the smooth talking hitman that I always was, up here at least" Reborn gestured to his head, "But seeing a _child_ in the mirror? I was honestly close to just ending it all just before Verde came with the solution."

"For me, it was hate. I _hated_ being in that body. I _hated_ having to jump up just to see things that I would have normally been able to see in this body. And I _hated_ knowing that the woman that I trusted most was the one responsible for it. I was so young and reckless, I blamed myself for trusting her. But now? I know better, it was a long journey for me. I found it in myself to just… accept that I would be like that forever. I made peace with that. But let me tell you," Fon met Reborn's eyes, "I _never_ would have thought that I'd hate anything more than I hated Luce."

A silence fell on the two men.


End file.
